Disappointed Tigers miss out on dance

STOCKTON - The dreams the Pacific women's basketball team had of dancing in the NCAA Tournament were dashed on Monday when it didn't receive an at-large bid when the field was announced on ESPN.

Jagdip Dhillon

STOCKTON - The dreams the Pacific women's basketball team had of dancing in the NCAA Tournament were dashed on Monday when it didn't receive an at-large bid when the field was announced on ESPN.

Instead, the Tigers (25-7) will participate in the Women's National Invitation Tournament for the second consecutive season, earning an automatic berth as the Big West Conference's regular-season champion. Pacific lost 63-49 to Cal Poly in the Big West Tournament final on Saturday and will prepare to host Arkansas-Little Rock (24-7) of the Sun Belt Conference at 7 p.m. Friday.

The WNIT, in its 16th season, opens with a 64-team field that begins play Wednesday. Its championship game will be April 6 on CBS Sports Network.

Coach Lynne Roberts and her players held out hope they would receive an at-large bid since they were ranked No. 47 in the RPI rankings, but it wasn't enough.

"We're all disappointed, because our goals were to win the Big West, which we did, and play in the NCAA Tournament, where we came up short," Roberts said. "With the RPI we had, if we were in a BCS conference we probably would have been a No. 7 seed, but it is what it is. It's unfortunate."

Now, Roberts and her team will focus on the Trojans, who have become one of the top programs in the Sun Belt under 10th-year coach Joe Foley, who led them to the NCAA Tournament last season but fell short 53-48 to Middle Tennessee in the conference tournament final last week.

"It's tough," senior guard Erica McKenzie said. "A lot has happened and there have been a lot of emotions, but now we have practice (today) and I'm confident in my teammates that we'll be motivated to come out and play."

Senior captain Kendall Rodriguez echoed McKenzie's sentiments, saying "it's still a good opportunity for us, especially us seniors to get to play at Spanos Center again."

With a victory, the Tigers likely would face the winner of the Eastern Washington/Washington matchup, who also play Friday. Roberts said her team has shown keen focus all season and expects the same come tipoff on Friday.

"We can compete and win these games," Roberts said. "But I know it's going to be tough."